The Women of the Cousins’ War (The Real White Queen and Her Rivals)

Philippa Gregory - David Baldwin - Michael Jones

Having finished second year, I finally had the time to reconnect with a genre I enjoy so much this June- the historical novel. The White Queen was a piece of historical fiction I read a long time ago and I absolutely loved it, so to find out more about Elizabeth Woodville- and the powerful, inspiring women around her- was a complete joy. The Late-Medieval and Early-Tudor periods are probably my favourite to read about. I am fascinated by the structure of society and the people that helped to form that structure as well as the schemes, battles and relationships that held it all together. Poignant interconnection was woven deep into this period, something so interesting to learn about and something that is extremely apparent in this book.

The Women of the Cousins’ War, (The Real White Queen and Her Rivals) is a non-fiction piece covering the lives of three women: Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Elizabeth Woodville and Margret Beaufort. Jacquetta was Henry VIII's Great-Grandmother and someone who I knew very little about. Her biography is told by Philippa Gregory who brings her rich style and elegance to non-fiction that I absolutely love. Her writing added the beauty and vividness of historical stories that I enjoy so much- they provide incredible material for extravagance, tension suspense and detail that they are impossible not to admire. Jacquetta's story occurs at the centre of the Wars of the Roses, despite her being a seemingly invisible figure to history. Her first marriage aligned her with the Lancastrian side of the conflict but she ended up as the mother of a Yorkist queen. More than this however, Jacquetta's ancestry connected her with Melusina the water Goddess of legend, she was accused and acquitted of witchcraft and her second marriage for love cost her the brief disapproval of King Henry VI but resulted in fourteen children for whom she secured positions of prominence.

I really enjoyed this section of the text. It was a privilege to learn about such an interesting character and amazing to read a beautifully written first biography of her by Philippa Gregory, a writer I admire so much.

The story of the second figure, Elizabeth Woodville, is told by David Baldwin, someone who I feel does complete justice to her captivation as a character. What I felt about reading a completely historically accurate work on 'The White Queen' is that the non-fiction stance enables a level of empiricism, deliberately and stylistically omitted from fiction of course, that adds a layer of deep understanding. Knowledge filled out dates and statistics felt so valuable to me, and really made me appreciate Philippa Gregory's 'The White Queen' even more.

Elizabeth Woodville herself was the daughter of the afore-mentioned Jacquetta, a queen of England and the Grandmother of Henry VIII. She was also the mother of 'The Princes in the tower', a notorious moment in history that I have always heard about and been interested in. Her beauty and charisma, so well documented in 'The White Queen' are apparent even in a biographical re-telling. Coupled with the extra details and accounts that Baldwin provides, Elizabeth prevails firmly as a character I don't think I will ever tire reading about. What I also found interesting about this text is the information it provides around the historical figures themselves. It was so fascinating to get an insight into other people's views of Elizabeth as she had a sometimes less than favourable reputation amongst her contemporaries.

This section of the book was about the person I probably knew the most about and still I managed to find out more! This text just offers extra details to further understand Elizabeth Woodville and those around her.

Margret Beaufort is a formidable presence throughout the pages of history. She is the facilitator of the Tudor dynasty as the mother of Henry VII and in this text her own riveting, and often tumultuous, tale is told by Michael Jones. In the book, her intelligence dedication and tremendous ability to navigate, and often manoeuvre, the political scene of the time, is depicted in immense scope and intricacy. This is something that really brings Margret to life in the text and also plays into the previously mentioned intricacy of Late-Medieval history.

A notable element of this section for me was the depiction of Margret's life after her son became king. Jones tells us of the amazing relationship between mother and son, a strong bond no doubt created as part of Margret's immense effort on behalf of her son to execute his claim to the throne of England. Her life after Henry was on the throne was full of the gratitude he felt towards her. She was given the same status as the Queen Consort, Elizabeth of York, and had an uncommonly great political influence for a woman of her time. It could be argued that it was Lady Margret's actions and patronage within her lifetime that paved the way for the ethos of the future Tudor dynasty. The pragmatism she possessed and her knowledge in the power of lineage was a consciousness that was passed onto her descendants. Margret's father was part of a previously illegitimate line of the house of Gaunt, giving her son a disputed claim to the throne- something that had obviously been overcome but needed to be secured. The Tudor dynasty was very aware of it's own position in royal history and of the importance of establishing a great royal house under its own name.

This acute awareness adds to the presentation in the text of Margret as a woman with incredible intelligence and a steadfast nature. Something that also really struck me was the story of her early teen marriage, what she must have been put through and what was expected of her. I think that it is incredible, given her early experiences, the woman she became against the odds of a male dominated political scene.

Overall, this book was a refreshing non-fiction alternative to accompany a genre I love. This study of three incredible women really peaked my interest and reminded me how captivated I can become in the lives of people who lived so long ago.